Samara Hotel

"Arrived late evening, greeted by reception, no welcome drink offered and the English language was not the best. Not very good for a 5 star. We were taken to our room which was lovely, and very clean. Porter took our cases literally 20 seconds away, £5 tip given, no eye contact and no thank you, just rude. The grounds are lovely, kept spotless and there are plenty of areas for everyone at night to sit, unwind and relax, there is entertainment on at night which is average in the amphitheatre. Animation in the day, the main man that runs it is adorable and very friendly, once he knows your face he always greets you with hello & a smile, your not pestered to take part in the activities but they do the same activities everyday, and the poolside music is the same every day. The bar staff on the beach bar are very busy but do serve you in turn which is good, whereas the large barman at the poolside bar is ignorant, if your a woman he will leave you standing there and serve men before you, even men that have come to the bar after you have been waiting there, he puts as priority, not good, my money is no different to anyone elses, therefore everyone should be treated the same. The Indonesian lady that serves at the indoor bar is also lovely and knows what you want to drink once she recognises you, and gets your drink straight to you, always smiling. Not a chance of you getting a sunbed on the beach at the front, 6.30 everyday my husband was down and there were towels everywhere with no people on them, my husband one day did remove a row of towels, which was funny, that afternoon everyone was given a sheet in the room to say if your not on your towel at 7am then security would remove them, this only lasted 2 days, but there are so many other areas that are beautiful that you can relax and unwind in, we were there 11 nights and never sat in the same area twice, some people are just very selfish. Housekeeping was really good, every day our room was cleaned and kept lovely and the lady if she saw us always managed to make sure she spoke to us. The food, well what can I say, quality is not bad but everything is so repetitive, I know it’s all inclusive but have to say the choice is one of the worst we have ever had and the meat is really fatty, and mainly caters for Russians. The staff that wait on you and clean tables are so polite and accommodating, we did tip the waiter and the lady that cleaned our table daily, our waiters English was not good, so he translated with us through our phones which was really good, in fact the restaurant manager should take note of his staff and follow them, he only ever spoke to a select few, walked around miserable, and never once said hello to us. Lastly the highlight of our stay was the spa, the lovely gentleman that sorts your appointments for you is adorable, even after he knew he had business from us, every day if he saw us would go out of his way to chat to us, we had 8 treatments between us over the course of the 11 nights, the ladies are Indonesian and I can honestly say, the best massages we have had in Turkey, the staff in the spa are absolute fantastic, I highly recommend, and it’s not expensive either, thank you spa team for making us so very welcome. The hotel is a taxi or bus ride right from the front of the hotel which is really good, and the harbour and city are a 10 minute ride away, the harbour at night is beautiful and well worth a visit. We did ask reception if we could extend our room a couple of hours until 2 in the afternoon as we were not due to fly until late that evening, it was offered to us at a cost of £60 which I thought was daylight robbery. We both made the most of our holiday at Samara but would not return unfortunately, it mainly caters for Russians. Thank you to all that made our stay enjoyable and to those that were rude and did not this is our reason for non return."

"Great experience at Samara Hotel! The spa was definitely one of the highlights of our stay. A special thanks to the gentleman working at the spa, who was very friendly, helpful, and took the time to explain all the available options and treatments. His hospitality really made the experience even better. Highly recommended! Greetings from Kosova"

"We went with another family, 3 adults and 4 teens, the hotel was brilliant and so were all the facilities like the gym and particularly the games room for me and my mate. The food was brilliant and a wide selection. The staff were fantastic and friendly, especially Sher who worked mainly behind the bar, always kind and respectful so I really wanted to leave him a great review. Food was on all day long and the bars were open all day as well. Rooms were nice and spacious with daily housekeeping. When i was looking at reviews before I went I couldn’t see the games room so I have taken a photo. There was two rooftop bars and the outside seating at the restaurant were very chilled and calm. However the inside canteen could feel a bit noisy at times. Despite having lots of guests the hotel wasn’t at all noisy during the night and continued chill throughout the day. The only bad thing i could say would be the daytime entertainment. Darts and Beach volleyball were amazing and great fun, however it didn’t start until 3:30 in the afternoon so we were left entertained ourselves all day, which was fine in the two pools and the sea. The hotel is about 20 minutes outside of Bodrum and about 30 mins from the airport, it was a nice secluded location but taxis getting into Bodrum were expensive and about €15 each way. The holiday was expensive but the Luxury feel of the Hotel made it worth it and would definitely visit again."